


La Bête en La Château

by Cas_The_Squid



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Beauty and the Beast Fusion, Billy is a dick, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sorry Not Sorry, and has no redeeming qualities
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-26 12:43:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20930417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cas_The_Squid/pseuds/Cas_The_Squid
Summary: When Nancy had agreed to help Jonathan Byers look for his missing little brother she did not expect to find a castle hidden in the forest. And she really had not expected to meet a beast in said castle.Or the Beauty and the Beast au no one asked for, but with a twist.





	La Bête en La Château

**Author's Note:**

> This is a beauty and the beast au, obviously. I'll add tags as I go so as not to spoil anything. 
> 
> Thanks to the discord chat for bouncing ideas back a forth.
> 
> Not beta read, all mistakes are my own. Feel free to point them out.

Nancy had never been afraid of the forest that bordered her home for most of her life. What was there to be afraid of among trees that turned a breathtaking array of reds and golds in Autumn? Before tonight she would have said nothing except the occasional wildlife. Tonight, she learned the truth about what horrors lived just outside the knowledge of her quiet town.

Now, in the on the cusp of winter the once beautiful trees now stood barren and skeletal in form  
with their naked branches. The fading light of day did nothing to illuminate the dark path they walked. The horses had been abandoned as the road ended and continued into a narrow path that hardly allowed them enough room as it was. Hopefully the horses would not be spooked by some phantom shadow and take off running. Nancy had contemplated doing just the same many times already.

As they approached a break in the trees, Jonathan motioned for her to stop and listen, and she did. There was nothing. Not the hoot of an owl, or the chirp of crickets. Only the sound of the leaves crunching beneath their feet broke the still and ominous silence of the lifeless forest around them.

"Where are we headed? Are you sure Will would come all the way out here by himself?" This was starting to seem like a wild goose chase to her. Maybe the townsfolk were right, and Will had been eaten by a pack of wolves.

Jonathan started walking again, not even looking to make sure she was following. "I know my little brother. He wasn't eaten by wolves like everyone says. He was taken by the beast in the castle."

Nancy rolled her eyes and gave a huff of annoyance, “Jonathan that’s just a story our parents used to tell us to keep us from playing in the forest. I came out here to help you look for your little brother, not to chase a fairytale.” 

He stopped and turned to her with a desperate look, “Nancy, you’re the only one that believes me that Will wasn’t just eaten by wolves and all I’ll find is a mostly eaten corpse, if I find anything at all.” He grabbed her arms, squeezing almost painfully tight, “I can’t give up on him Nancy, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.” 

Although she was scared from the looming forest, the look in Jonathan’s eyes told her that if she didn’t stay with him something bad might happen to the eldest Byers brother.

With deciding nod, she agreed to keep looking. 

“I’ll help you look, but if anything happens, we aren’t coming back. Jonathan your mother can’t lose you too. Think about Joyce.”

With that said they continued in toward the clearing with a stronger sense of dread hanging over them. They both knew there was a slim chance of finding Will, corpse or otherwise. These woods were massive, and he could be anywhere within them. 

When they reached the edge of the tree line Nancy nearly bumped into Jonathan when he came to a halt in front of her. What they thought was a simple clearing was actually the courtyard entrance to what looked to be a castle. A castle that she is sure she would have been able to see from town. It was hard to miss the forty-foot stone walls with towers. There was no explanation for why she never knew this castle existed. 

Except there was an explanation, but she refused to believe it could be real. The stories from their childhood about a man turned into a beast because he was such a monster on the inside couldn’t be true. Magic and beasts in castles don’t exist. But this castle didn’t exist either and yet here it is before her eyes, looking pristine and well kept. 

Nancy glances at Jonathan and they exchange an unsettled look. Nothing about this mysterious castle seemed welcome and inviting. Without a word they slowly made their way towards what looked to be the entrance, if the grand looking doors were any indication. 

They both understand that there was no going back from here. Even if they couldn’t find Will within these massive walls, they can’t unsee it’s existence. Whatever was inside wanted to remine hidden from the world and here they were headed towards the front door to announce their presence. 

Before they could reach the door, it seemed to open on its own, as if blown open by a gust of wind from behind them. As if such a thing were possible for such large and ornate doors. They shared another look before making their way inside. 

There was no one on the other side to greet them, or to yell at them to leave. Nancy couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or not. 

They made their way silently through the foyer and up a grand staircase. The feeling of imminent danger never dissipated and left Nancy on edge as they explored. The inside of the castle was nothing like she had imagined. For as well as the outside was cared for, the inside looked equally in disrepair. There was a thick layer of dust on every surface, their steps marked a clear path as if they had walked through snow. 

The paintings on the wall, what was left of them, were ripped and barely hanging from their mounts. A section of the railing up ahead looked as if something had fallen through it. 

None of this made her feel any safer than being outside left to fend off the animals of the night. 

What felt like hours later they came to a narrow spiral staircase that lead to darkness, and what could only be the bowls of the castle, and likely a dungeon. 

“If whoever lives here has Will captive he’ll be down there. We already checked every room on our way.”

She took a moment to steel herself and started down the stairs, resolutely not thinking about all the horrible things that could happen to them if they were caught down here. 

“If Will isn’t down here we have to go back to town. If they know the castle is here-”

Nancy interrupted before he could get further with that thought, “Jonathan, no one in town is going to believes us. What would we even say? We were looking for your probably dead little brother in the woods and stumbled upon a castle in the middle of nowhere with no one inside.” She gave him a look that he probably couldn’t even see because it was so dark. “The towns people would lock us up forever, they’d think we’re insane.”

“Nancy, we have to try. If we brought proof, maybe they would believe us.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out something that glinted in the limited light provided by the few and far between windows. “I found this in one of the rooms. They’ll have to believe this is real.” 

From what she could see it was a beautiful silver hand mirror with not a trace of dust on it. She snatched it from his hands, “Jonathan are you crazy? Surely whoever lives here will notice this is missing. We have to take something less noticeable.” She put the mirror into a fold of her dress to put back on their way back. “Now come on, the sooner we reach the bottom, the sooner we can leave.”

Down the winding stairs they went, not noticing the figure following them. It was just another sinister shadow playing tricks on their eyes. 

Oh, how wrong they were. 

The further they went the colder it became, to the point of seeing their breath despite the warmth of the upper levels of the castle. The bottom of the stairs felt as if the walls and floors would freeze over any moment, and they would become ice sculptures themselves. No natural creature could survive down here for long and Will had been missing for more than a week. If he was being held here, he was long a frozen corpse. 

They faced a long corridor that seemed to get longer the more they looked. The walls were lined with cells that looked unused, their doors likely frozen in place by the cold and discontinued use. 

Slowly they walked the corridor, looking for anything that would indicate someone had been held here recently. The further they walked the more their hope faded until they couldn’t deny anymore that Will had never been in the castle at all. They had wasted their time and had nothing to show for it except blue lips and a still missing Will Byers. 

Nancy placed a comforting arm around Jonathan’s shoulders as she noticed them start to shake from more than the persistent cold. He was quick to wrap his arms around her in a hug as sobs wracked his body. There was nothing she could do or say that would make this any easier for him. The boy had let himself hope beyond reason that his little brother was still alive. He had to face the truth at some point. Will Byers was dead, and no amount of hope could erase that fact. 

As they stood there the figure in the shadows watched and waited. They had found nothing of worth here and he knew they would not tell the people of the town of his hidden home. The boy’s brother was not here, there would be no need. He would let them go back to their lives with tonight as nothing more than a waking nightmare in their memories. 

Or he would have, had he not caught the glint of silver from something hidden in the woman’s dress. Instantly he knew what she had taken, and he was overcome with rage that such a foul human dared to steal his things from his home. 

In an instant he revealed himself from his place in the shadows, “You vile whore! How dare you try and take what belongs to me.” his voice boomed, startling the pair. He grabbed the woman as she screamed when she took in his form. He was glad his visage could cause such terror at just a glance. 

He smothered her with his hand to stop the terrible screeching, and looked the frightened woman in the eyes as he spoke with a growl in his voice, “I’m going to keep you here as payment for coming into my home and trying to steal from him. You’re going to be my prisoner and I’m going to have so much fun collecting what’s owed to me.” He punctuated his statement with a wet lick to the woman’s neck and cheek.

Nancy tried to scream and claw at her captor’s large beast-like hand covering her mouth. She looked to Jonathan, trying to get him to do something to save her. This thing was going to rape her and possibly kill her. But Jonathan wasn’t moving, he was frozen looking at the thing with naked terror on his face. 

The thing ignored her attempts to free herself as if he didn’t even feel it. He looked to the man standing there doing nothing and gave a humorless laugh at the human’s debilitating fear of him. Obviously, the woman was the feistier of the two, and he would enjoy breaking her more than the man. 

“Go. Leave this place and I will let you live. Tell no one and I will spare her life. I will know if you do.” 

With an apologetic glace at Nancy, Jonathan ran the way they had come. When he reached the staircase, he looked back to find the beast and Nancy gone without a trace. With the fear of the monster coming back he climbed the stairs two at a time and never once faltered in his resolve to escape and bring help to save Nancy. 

Through the castle he ran and outside into the forest without pause for his aching lungs. He found the horses where they left them what felt a lifetime ago. He mounted his mare and sorrowfully pulled Nancy’s along as he rode back into town. 

He had no idea how he was going to get them to help as he couldn’t tell them what had happened. The beast’s threat of knowing if he had felt like the truth. Whatever he did he couldn’t leave Nancy in there to be the beast’s plaything. 

He’ll kill the thing himself if he had to.


End file.
